Fearless
by innnerphyre
Summary: "And I don't know why, but with you, I'd dance in my best dress, fearless." ZUKO &   KATARA


**Author's Note: ** I love Zuko and Mai. But everyone loves Zuko and Katara so I thought I could satisfy those shippers with Fearless. It's hard for me to write this, but I know deep inside, deep, deep, deep, deep inside, I am a Zutarian.

This story takes place 2 years after Sozin's Comet. I'm assuming the time period for _Avatar: The Last Airbender _was about 1-2 years, so presumably Aang was 12-13, Katara was 14-15 etc, etc.. so here are the new ages for my fanfiction:

Aang: 15  
>Katara: 17<br>Sokka: 18  
>Zuko: 19<br>Mai: 18  
>Azula: 17<br>Ty Lee: 17

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><p><strong>Chapter One: To Gravity<strong>  
><em>"The sky feeling I get when you're near. Give it to gravity to feel. I'm a ship sailing and the seas are rough. I'm a satellite, in the space above. When I'm holding up, in the suspension. You're not close enough." - Lights<em>

Azula surprised herself by liking to work at the Jasmine Dragon. Not only did she find a new love for the smell of tea leaves, but it was exactly what the doctor said she needed, and she tried her best to accommodate with what the doctor said. After all, for everything she did right, she had the opportunity to firebend, and firebending made her very happy.

"Azula," Uncle Iroh asked from behind, carrying a tray of hot tea, "how are the customers doing?"

"Fantastic," Azula's voice was a monotone though, ironically. "Everyone's asking for Ginseng tea."

"Well, Azula," Uncle Iroh patted her on the back, "we both know why right?"

"Yes, Uncle," she nodded. "Because you create it with love."

Sitting at the corner of the teashop watching them was Mai. And she was utterly disgusted.

"This is crazy," she shook her head, "I don't think the doctors know what they're doing." Her boyfriend sat across from her, nodding in agreement.

"We can only hope for the best," Zuko grunted. "I trust Dr. Wu, and if this is what he says, then I will support his decision."

Mai sighed, "No matter what she's done, it's hard, seeing her like this."

Zuko didn't say anything. He hadn't talked to his sister since the past week, when they talked about the weather. It was something mundane, something simple. But there was something weird about her. Whenever he tried to make conversation with Azula, she always gave him a glazed expression. Hearing, but never listening. He didn't feel like she was recovering, but getting worse. Was Dr. Wu really making her better? Or was he brainwashing her? He heard about what happened at Lake Laogai during the war, but Zuko knew better than thinking thoughts like that. His sister still had hope―to become the person she was before her evil self took over.

"Hey guys!" a memorable voice called out to the Fire Lord and his girlfriend.

Zuko looked up to see Sokka, Suki and Toph heading towards them. He cracked a wide smile. It has been a while since they all saw each other. Team Avatar rarely hung out with each other anymore. After the small get together at the Jasmine Dragon two years ago, everyone went on with their own lives. And whenever they did see each other, it was never for long. Getting everyone together was troublesome enough, and when they all saw each other, it was only for a few minutes. Zuko would have to go back minding his uncle's tea shop, checking up on Azula's mentality, handling the situation his mother was involved in, taking care of his beautiful girlfriend, restoring the world, making sure there were no Fire Nation radicals trying to assassinate him, and reassuring the universe that the Fire Nation is no longer a threat.

On top of all that, he had endless and endless meetings and duties to attend to. His own nation was falling apart, even though the war ended. The economy was going down, the people were still unhappy, land distribution was getting to everyone, trading was not going well. At least some people still vacationed to Ember Island.

He knew bringing peace to the world was going to be difficult and challenging, but never did he imagine that there was going to be all this _extra_ baggage.

While Zuko had his own busy, internal problems, he knew the Avatar's life was not that easy either. Aang had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders―literally― and he was only 15. Well, that's why Katara's with him, right?

The rest of Team Avatar―Sokka, Suki, Toph―were rebuilding the Earth Kingdom. Sokka did head down to the South Pole to restore his homeland for a little while, but Zuko guessed Suki was more important to Sokka, as he left the South Pole soon afterwards.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Sokka then addressed formally, shattering Zuko's thoughts.

Zuko frowned, "Sokka, what do you think you're doing? Don't bow, and don't address me like that! I'm just Zuko."

"Hey, don't get offended," he raised his hands as in a surrender. "I have to be polite, after all I'm talking to _the Fire Lord_." Sokka smiled from ear to ear.

"Sokka," Toph said, "I'm going to have to agree with Zuko on this one. The Fire Lord is your friend―,"

"Exactly!" Sokka slammed his fist down onto the table, "The Fire Lord is my friend!" his cracked voice reached everyone around him.

"Sokka, be quiet!" Zuko groaned. He knew he couldn't miss Sokka that badly.

"I think it's kind of cute." Mai laughed, somehow reading his thoughts.

Suki rolled her eyes, but greeted them too, "How are you guys doing?"

"We're fine," Mai smiled into Zuko's eyes, taking his hand away from his temples. Zuko gently squeezed her hand back in affection.

"No post-war talking!" Sokka exclaimed. "That is rule number one! I didn't come all the way here to listen to you and Aang talk about restoring the world. This is us time. Team Avatar time!"

"Relax, Sokka, Twinkle Toe's not even here," Toph said calmly.

"Yeah, where is he?" Suki asked, looking around the shop.

"I don't know, probably with Katara shopping." Sokka shrugged, "who cares? Let them be, they're a young couple. Now let's order some tea! Waitress!" Sokka shot a hand up. All of a sudden, as if she flew here, Azula just appeared next to their table. And everyone besides Mai and Zuko froze.

"Sister," Zuko nodded to her during the awkward moment of silence. His voice softened as he stared into her eyes. "How are you doing?"

Azula glanced from Zuko to Mai, and to everyone around the table who were still gawking at her with wide eyes. For a fleeting moment, Azula shied away from then, but then coming to her instincts, she stood her ground. She remembered what Dr. Wu told her and she smiled.

"Good, brother. How may I help everyone?" Azula asked, her tone friendly enough.

After everyone ordered their drinks and even after Azula left to get everyone's drinks, Sokka was still in shock. "_What _just happened? Why did you let her out? She was on a remote hospital in an island, closely monitored. And she's loose now. What happens if she attacks you? Or what if she kills you? The last letter you sent me was like, two weeks ago, and you said she was still screaming in her sleep, and screaming in her daydreams or some scary stuff like that. Seriously? Let's just get Aang to de-firebend her."

Zuko shook his head as Mai spoke. "We were just talking about this before you guys arrived."

Sokka looked back to Azula who was talking to Iroh as Suki said, "What did the doctors at the facility say?"

"Something about clearing her mind." Mai brushed if off nonchalantly.

"Clearing her mind?" Suki echoed.

"Yeah," Mai nodded, "I actually don't know a lot of the details. Zuko?" she prompted.

The young Fire Lord sighed, "Dr. Wu said Iroh could take of her, for now at least. It's only temporary. The tea shop is peaceful, and Azula's mind needs peace. We're going to see how long she lasts like this. It's kind of like a test. A mental test. Oh, and we can't take away her bending because her reward for doing anything good _is_ firebending."

"Who says she can't just firebend anyways?" Suki asked.

"If she did firebend, her punishment would be Aang taking away her bending. It's a faulty threat, I know, but I haven't really had a chance to ask the avatar if he could even take away Azula's firebending. He'd probably say no, anyways. You know what a softy he is" Zuko said, his voice getting softer.

The table was quiet as they all thought about Azula's fragile, mental state. A few moments later, Toph broke the silence, "Speaking of Aang, they're here!"

On cue, Aang and Katara walked right into the tea shop, with Momo on Aang's shoulders.

"See!" Sokka pointed at their shopping bags "I told you they were shopping. Katara! Aang!" he bellowed across the tea shop, getting up from the chair and waving his hands. All thoughts of Azula were long gone.

Katara, from the entrance of the tea shop, heard her name being called. Her eyes brightened as she spotted the group. "Look, it's them!" she shouted to Aang. She quickly ran towards her brother and lunged forward, hugging him. She hadn't seen him in what seemed like forever, although it was really only a couple of weeks ago.

"Sokka!" Katara cried, her eyes tearing up.

She broke away from him and looked into his familiar eyes. "How is everything? We haven't written to each other in such a long time!"

"Hey guys!" Aang waved to the group, smiling, cutting Sokka off.

"Excuse me, here are your teas."

Aang heard a familiar voice. And as he turned around, his eyes widened, so did Katara's.

Katara didn't know what to say. She was extremely unprepared for this moment, caught completely off guard. She always thought that if saw the ex-princess before she turned 20, it would be too soon. And it was too soon. As Katara looked into Azula's eyes, she saw a different, yet similar girl in front of her. All of a sudden, Katara remembered what she was like from the last day of the war. Chained down, screaming, and crying. Blue fire was everywhere. Katara couldn't even look at her, she felt so bad. Pity stabbed at her heart when she saw the evil princess at such an unstable state, and she wished she could look away right now, but she couldn't. That would give everything away. That would mean that she felt something for the woman who unsuccessfully tried to kill her.

She almost died.

But she didn't.

Because Zuko was there.

And then he spoke, as if he heard the mention of his name in her mind. "Thank you very much, Azula. The avatar and his girlfriend will get the same as me, please. If that is okay with you guys?"

Katara turned to look at Zuko, and she was surprised to see him staring back at her with such an intense look. Absent mindedly, she nodded slowly. For those brief seconds, no matter how corny it sounded, she felt like everything else in the world didn't matter. As the white noise rushed around her, she was sucked into his golden eyes. She was trapped, but she didn't want to get out. Behind his eyes, Katara saw a message. What was he trying to convey?

He looked different. The last time she saw Zuko was more than a year ago, definitely. His hair grew out again, almost covering his eyes. His face grew more mature. How much has he suffered since the last time she saw him? How much pleasure has he gained since the last time she saw him? Although the Fire Lord had to deal with situations with the Avatar, Katara was never with them. It wasn't her business, and she truthfully, she felt awkward being near him.

Their moment didn't last long though, and as Zuko broke away from her gaze, Katara felt herself dragged back to the real world. She turned away from him, ashamed at swooning over someone's boyfriend, especially when she had a great boyfriend herself.

"So, care to explain?" Aang laughed nervously, spinning his glider around.

As Suki launched into the story, Katara snuck glances at Zuko. He seemed content enough. He was holding Mai's hand tightly while filling in the missing holes when Suki stumbled.

Although her heart did somewhat ache for Azula, she was glad it wasn't her who came back with the teas, but Zuko's uncle.

Iroh seemed happy. Really happy, in fact. And as the gang ushered him into hugs and greetings, Katara felt herself smile.

Today would be different, she could tell.

Today, they would be themselves.

Team Avatar.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

I know I rushed the ending. And I was going to make the chapter a lot longer, but I just wanted to get this published! Have a nice day, guys, enjoy, and remember, snark!


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